nailes he shall find diuers passions and perturbations that are voide of Reason A body which we cal the flesh of the earth a vegitatiue part of growing as the plants a sensitiue part of moouing seeing smelling c as the beastes a reasonable part in an immortall soule and all those in so small compasse And diuers learned writers reason that man and the course and motions of his life and being reasemble the very course of the celestiall bodies in studying whereof they haue taken great paynes And Reason it selfe concludeth this point of diuinitie that in mā there is immortality and mortality the one of the soule and the other of the body The one as matter subiect to corruption and wasting and the Soule a substance that neuer shall leaue to haue being and life There is no thing nor nature whatsoeuer that is either knowne or can be conceiued but is either immortal or mortall part of both these is man therefore is he a true patterne of al the rest and so consequently of the whole world If a man would enter into consideration what a wonderfull thing in nature the coniunction and knitting together of the body and soule is seeing the soule which is light to bee within the heauy body that which is of coelestiall fire within that which is earthie and cold inuisible and immortall in palpable and corruptible earth what an admirable creature was man if he knew himself The definition diuision of whose soul body with this short touch I leaue the reader to search further the learned writings of such as haue treated thereof and fearing to be tedious I retire to my former purpose that euery man in his priuate state ought to consider what he was from which he is fallen what he is by corruption whereof is already treated what he would bee and what he shal be which done he shal find that there is non but would be happy But the corrupt will and affections tend to miserie calamity and infelicitie vnlesse there be the greater care and gouernment thereof had Now as wee began in order to take things in their worthines wherby man is placed aboue the rest so in mā that which is most worthy ought to be preferred aboue the rest as his Soule aboue the body And Reason aboue passions and affections Reason the Queene and the rest subiect Take a view of thine owne selfe thy soule thy conscience thy mind thy reason thy body thy sences these affections passions perturbations and imperfectiōs the determinatiō of the heart the speech of the mind and the speech of thy mouth thou shalt be driuen to shift hard for help to excuse thee There is described to be in man a sensuall appetite which the Schoole men diuided into two partes the lustfull appetite and the irefull or wrathfull appetite There are also described to be in these two appetites twelue principall passions whereof six which are loue and hatred longing and loathing gladnesse and sadnesse doe folow the lustful appetite The other sixe that is hope and dispaire fearfulnes and foole-hardines Cholericknes coldnes do follow the irefull part That these are al sensual is plaine in that they finish and end when life leaueth the body Besides the very bruite beasts haue their parts in them as well as men These are the subiects which in euery particular body and gouernement of euery person ought to be kept in obedience vnto reason and not to issue or proceed any further than they can shew their warrant authoritie and commission for Nowe seeing the imperfection of all these things is crept into the corruption of the nature as well of the bodies as soules of men it behooueth euery one therfore to summon a parliament and to assemble all these passions and affections to receiue direction howe to bee disposed in what causes how farre And to receiue reprehension and discipline for their cōtempt or disobediēce For the discouerie whereof obserue this in al the things wherein thou employest thy minde And therein first consider and conclude that by the reasonable soule and life is vnderstoode such a soule and life as hath counsell iudgement and reason which was created to this ende that knowing God her Creator and louing him in regarde thereof she might honor and serue him finally by degrees attaine to immortal life happines which is appoynted for her end and is the marke she should labour to attaine For as nothing in man is more excellent then Reason whereof God hath made thee partaker so is there nothing so well beseeming thy Reason then that thou know loue and honour God as whom nothing is so excellent nor vnto whom nothing may bee compared and without whom thou hadst not obtained neither being life sense nor reason for God is aboue thee God is beneath thee God is without thee God is within thee God is round about thee God is euery where else thou wast no where Nowe when thou sendest thy mind and reason into the bowelles of the earth to search there for things of much virtue as golde and other mettalles weigh by the rule of right reason to what vse thou intendest the employment thereof whether to the glorie of the Giuer or thine owne priuate appetite or desire whether thou esteemest not more a few Flemmish angells than the blood and life of a thousand blessed Saints If thou growe affected to the garment of the earth the grasse of the field and their stately branches consider whether thou putte true difference betweene them and immortallitie and how much lesse thou arte inquisitiue after Eternitie than those corruptible matters Examine thy selfe whether thou be thy monies maister or his vassall If thy liking be carried after the moouing things consider how the delight and pleasure in them ouer-ruleth thy affections and taketh vppe thy minde from contemplating their right vse and the end whereto they were appoynted If in keeping company with those of thine owne kinde there are two Sexes The first betwixt man woman in which is ingendred man and woman And therein consider that Reason shewes thee that God made one woman for one man and but one man for one woman which the more sheweth the excellencie of his creation in that hee made so large a worlde for so small a company That this is a true conclusion not to be violated by Reason the very rule of euen-hoode and right dooth shew For whosoeuer would breake wedlock would not haue the same measure requited to himself neither doth the father like it in the sonne nor the mother in the daughter and rather than confesse it Nature her selfe in respect of her originall purenesse is so ashamed thereof that she will rather commit periurie than acknowledge it which agreeth well with the wordes of Gods owne spirite pronounced by Malachi that God had abundance of spirite which sheweth that he might haue made diuers women for one man or diuerse men for one woman but his
wil not sticke to supplant him whome he ought most to regarde The countrieman is neuer quiet vntill hee haue the marchants money and the marchant commonly maketh his match so as he will not loose by the bargaine But whosoeuer obserueth what others protestations vntruths deceits cunnings crafts and collusions are vsed amongst all sorts shall well find that Reason hath not her right gouernement If anie man looke but into the Comoedy that treateth of the Humors of men and the booke of Cony-catching he shall see those errors very liuely and at full discouered Now as the beginning of gouernment is at a priuate man so the first that followeth is the gouernement of a priuate family in which the maister of the house hath authority to impose domesticall Lawes The next is betweene the Lord and Tenants ouer whome the Lord hath authoritie to appoynt ordinaunces and to receiue an othe of fidelitie Then followeth the gouernement of Tithings of Towneships of Citties of Counties so concludingly of the whole state whereof to dilate would be ouer tedious The collegiate and ecclesiasticall gouernements and al priuileged places ought to haue repaire to one head At one is the beginning of obedience and at one is both the beginning and end of gouernement And whatsoeuer is meane betweene those buttols or boundes is the publique state which by reasons rule and law are to be ordered and disposed like as the stuffe and seuerall matters that goe to the building of an house which as they are to be at the direction of the principall woorkeman yet are they not to be lost nor spoiled so is it in the case of gouernment for the ordering of causes and suppressing of disorder in a publique consideration without confusion of any In which publike state many ancient laudable and godly Lawes haue beene made which of themselues are in the common-wealth as the soule is in the body of a man when hee either sleepeth or waketh The life of the law is the minister and officer thereof who should distribute the same to the indifferent and equall good of all It is as the line or plumbe rule whereby the workeman guideth his building vpright Gentle Reader consider with thy selfe which part of this building thou art wherof this maine state consistes and reason with thy selfe if thou bee contented or discontented with thine estate and the cause that mooneth thee thereunto and likewise consider whether that cause be reasonable or not if thou finde no suppresse it set the queene of thy passions and affections to iudge thereof and reforme thine errour which if euery man in this Land would performe her Maiesties gouernment would farre passe the gouernement of Numa Pompilus or any that euer liued If we enter into consideration of the seuerall kindes of liuing things how the bond of nature dooth make them affect the company and fellowship of creatures of their owne sorte to liue together in assemblies with a kinde of pleasure and contentment The beasts on the earth in the ayre the birds and in the water the fishes wherein they holde themselues strongest and most safe as they are gathered together into greatest companies in a kinde of agreement as their natures are expressed by Aristotle and others of like learning It will enforce men to wonder at their owne intemperate gouernment considering that against one beast or bird that killeth one an other of his owne kinde there are thousands of men murthered and vnnaturally slaine by their compares so that among men reason so litle preuaileth that the very sensuall partes rebell against their owne nature Insomuch that men through their vnreasonable actions committe that which the vnreasonable beasts do eschew to performe Had not Reason neede to impose laws to suppresse these disorders In the priuate body of a man if the gangrina take any member which is like to bring the whole bodie to death destruction will not the head the heart and all the rest of the members consent to the seuering that member from the body to saue the rest So in the state of a common-wealth to preserue the principall and generall parts Reason hath made lawes not to respect any particular that shall grow daungerous to the whole and specially to the head which is the life honor of the rest As the priuate man that hath his legge cut off to saue his body hath no pleasure but paine and griefe in losing the same So the good Magistrate hath no pleasure in the death or punishment of the subiect but is rather grieued that any such member should be so corrupted as he may not be abidden to remaine The law is said to be the blood bond of the commonwealth the spirit therof The law is said to be a singular reason imprinted in nature commāding those things that are to be done and forbidding the contrary by which the men of the first world liued without any written law at all Besides the written law the law of nature is a sence and feeling which euery man hath in himselfe and in his conscience wherby he discerneth betweene good and euill The lawe is as the medicine the minister and distributer therof as the Phisition the offender the patient As in some causes though the Phisition do not giue the potion rightly nor the patient haue a stomake to endure the taking yet is not the fault in the simple medicine but in the giuer and receiuer or one of them The wrong is not in the law if thou bee corrected for thy offence but in thy selfe for thine error Many a man being sicke of an ague sindeth fault with his drinke where in truth the fault is in his taste the like may be said of those that cōplaine of the iniustice of the law whē alas it is a dombe thing of it selfe and intēdeth no harme to any but the wel vsing or abusing thereof is the matter that is to be considered The euill disposed wisheth there were no law that he might vsurpe ouer the good or at least he holdeth the law to be ouer-seuere to punish his fault on the other side the honest minded man findeth that the offences against the law are notfully and speedily reformed To treate of the diuers kindes of lawes of diuers Countries and the seueral vses of them I intend not but to leaue a note to men of ordinary vnderstanding that the gouernment of men vsed by the discipline of lawes is as necessary as the life to preserue the body from putrifaction He that thinketh it an easie or sleight matter to put his hand into medling or dealing with state matters making of new lawes or abrogating the old as if they were to bee put off and on like a garment or fantastically changed as the wild humor of some few affect let them consider what Demosthenes said of the decrees among the Locrians that euery Citizen that was to bring in a new lawe shoulde come and declare it publikely with a halter about his
and orders insomuch as Seneca in his time complained Cessero publicaiura priuatis cepit licitim esse quod publicum est Plotinus 1. lib. 4. ca. 1 And Plotinus entring into consideration hereof doth as it were wonder thereat saying what should be the cause that our soules being of a diuine nature shuld so farre forget God their father and their kindred and themselues And making the answere thereto himselfehe saith The beginning of this mischiefe was acertaine rashnesse and ouer boldnesse throgh which they would needes plucke their necks out of the Coller and bee at their owne commaundement By which abuse turning their libertie into licentiousnesse they went cleane backe and are so farre gone away from God that like children being newly weyned are by and by conueyed from their parents know neither whose nor what they be nor from whence they come Plotin 1. li. 8. cap. 4. And in another place beewailing this corruption hee saith The soule which was bredd for heauenly things hath plunged it selfe in these materiall things and matter of it selfe euill that not onlie all that is of matter or matched with matter but also euen that which hath respect vnto matter is filled with euill as the eye that beholds darknes is filld with darknes Hierocles the stoicke against Atheists saith that man is of his owne motion enclined to follow the euill and to leaue the good there is saith he a certain strife bred in his affectiōs which stepping vp against the will of nature hath made it to tumble from heauen to hell The Auncient Philosophers taking consideration of the number of affections and passions wherewith the Soule and Reason of man is infected and corrupted which Plutark affirmeth to be much more sorrowful and grieuous then the bodily diseases endeuouring to reduce and bring those intemperate affections and passions to some reasonable order haue made diuers books of Moral vertues and lawes and giuen sundry rules ordinances and precepts to bring them to obediēce In which their exceeding painefull works they positiuely inueigh against the rebelliousnes that is naturally in vs against Reason that is the rebelliousnes that is crept in by this corruption of nature These rebellious affections passions are not as spottes or staynes that may be washed or clensed out of nature but a deepe impression in nature with much ado to be restrained and held short but neuer vtterly to be subdued or ouercome whervpon it is very fitly said by a man of great learning Seeing that reason is somuch more excelēt then passion or affection as the formes shape or fashion is more excellent then the matter or stuffe wherein it is Whence commeth this infection in vs that maketh the matter to ouermaister the forme and causeth the form as it were to receiue shape and fashion of the matter that is to say which putteth Reason in subiection to passions and to the impression which affection yeeldeth contrary to the order which is in al the world beside What else is this intemperance of man but Reason as it now remaineth inwrought or ingrauen with lust concupiscence what is anger but Reason attainted with choser c. Nō sic suit ab initie It was not so in the first creation The motions of lust anger and intemperance which now rule men against Reason were not in the originall nature of man neither proceed they of the first creation for then would not nature be ashamed of them as you see it now is These motions are crept in since by corruption And therefore the grieuing that happeneth to men by those passions is a working of nature which is ashamed to play the bruit beast There are described to be in the reasonable soule of man foure powers or abilities first Witte secondly Will thirdly an abilitie of being angrie fourthly an Abillitie of Lusting In those foure abilities the Philosophers haue entended to place foure vertues In wit wisdome in will righteousnesse in the abilitie of being angrie valor in the abilitie of lust Staidnesse These powers abilities vertues are maymed And those abilities haue not those vertues Wit is maymed with ignorance Wil with doing wrong Valor with cowardice Staidenes with licentiousnes Besides the outward fences imagination and appetite which are cōmon to beastes man had wit or reason and will of the gift of the creator peculiar to man only by which wee esteeme our selues better then the beasts and in regard therof we look to haue them in subiection vnder vs. And al this Reason leadeth vs to vnderstand But obserue the sequell and we shall find as the corrupt cōdition of mans nature is now that whereas imagination ought to rule the fences will to rule the appetite and Reason to rule the imagination it fareth farre otherwise for imagination giueth way to the outward sense Appetite ruleth will and imaginatiō carrieth Reason at her pleasure insomuch that the very sensuall parte which is the meanest carrieth all the rest and maketh Reason an vnderling nay oft times leaueth Reason quite out and rebelleth against her and so this spirit and reason of ours is forward to nothing but euill nor enclined to any thing saue base and transitorie matters It fastneth it self to the earth and is bondslaue to the bodie To discouer how farre the auncient Philosophers out of such reasons as they had waded into these causes would require a long worke therfore a worde or two Philosophie it selfe is said to be an art of healing the soule of the infirmities whereinto it was fallen from hir first perfection The first step thereunto or precept is Nosce teipsum begin to know thy selfe Aristotle coulde not chuse but knowe that the vnderstanding and minde of man was out of tune when in his Moralls he declareth that the affections ought to be ruled by reason and our mind brought from extreames into the meane and from iarring into the right tune Theophrastus saith that the soule payed well for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffred by the bodies meanes shewing that he considered that corruption was entered into man euen into his soule mind and reason Zoriastres the grand-child of Noa and auncientest of Philosophers bewayleth this laps fall and digression of the race of mankinde crying alas alas the whole earth mourneth euen vnto children And Hermes in his Poemander giueth it a most absolute conclusion where he saith God created mā after his owne likenesse and gaue him all things to vse but man in steed of staying vpon the beholding of his father would needes bee medling and doing somewhat of himselfe and so fell from the heauenly contemplation into the sphere of elements or generation And because he had power ouer all things he began to fall in loue with himselfe And gazing and wondring at himselfe he was so intangled that he became a bondslaue to his body being before at libertie Which bondage and abasing hee intendeth to be in the soule mind and reason of man
in his booke of Maners of the soul after hee had most curiously searched into the nature of Elements as much as he could fathered the causes of all things vppon the Elements yet is inforced to confesse in his booke of the doctrine of Hippocrates and Plato that the Soule is a bodilesse substance whereof the body is onely the chariot making a difference betweene the corruptible and immortall part of man The Turkes Arabians In the Alcaron Azo 25 42. and Persians holde firmely that the Soule of man was breathed vnto him of God and so consequentiy incorruptible and immortall Besides many other strong resolutions amongst the Philosophers the very Caribies and Caniballes acknowledge the immortalitie of the Soule I omit to mention what is contained in the holy and sacred Booke of God and writers of diuinitie because I would haue the most absurd that liue repaire to learne of such as were altogether prophane if they scorne as many doe to peruse the Booke of God What mooued all these and many millions besides nay in a manner the whole world to acknowledge the excellent immortalitie of the Soule but this reasonable vnderstanding and apprehension of the Soule which being in it selfe immortall searcheth out the knowledge of thinges that are euerlasting and neyther can finish nor abide corruption in their substaunce and so much for the substance whereof Reason is the qualitie Sect. III. Reason aduaunced aboue things that are inferior to her IN comparing of things for their woorthinesse or excellencie it is alway to be vnderstood that there must be other and more things obiected ouer and besides that which is aduaunced and commended aboue the rest wherby the comparison or aduancement may be proued and discerned In this matter I haue vndertaken to aduance and set vp Reason aboue other things The better therefore to discouer the trueth thereof I will manifest those things that are inferiour and ought to be subiect vnto Reason In the first Creation God made many creatures whereof the world doth consist in the whole which being truely considered doe yeelde foure degrees and each more excellent than other The first sorte haue onely being The second haue being and life The third haue being life and sence The fourth haue being life sence and reason It was fitly said by a great learned man that the earth the sea and the aire are of great largenesse they beare vp and sustaine all things that haue life all that haue sence and all things that haue reason and yet themselues haue no more but a bare being without life sence or reason as they are the first things that were made of nothing so are they neerest vnto nothing and of meaner consideration then the rest The plants and hearbes are the next which besides their being haue a kinde of life as it is to be seene by their growing sucking or drawing their nourishment from the earth and their refreshing from the aire The Beastes haue being life and sence and haue their nourishment and feeding from the elements and from the plants These things did God behold when he had made them and they were all good Then did he make man who had being life sence and reason this excellent qualitie which I wish euery man deepely to consider for God breathed into man the breath of life and made him a liuing soule he made him after his owne Image by bestowing this liuing reasonable and immortall soule Marke wel how by degrees God made these things the earth the water and the aire of nothing that it might bud and bring forth the trees and euery greene herbe Then the trees and grasse of the earth for the feeding of the beasts Then the beasts of the field and the foules and euery creeping thing And lastly he made man his materiall bodie of the dust of the earth but his reasonable soule by diuine inspiration who is properly vaid to enioy the Elements line of the plants and commaund the beasts to consider and discourse of all things and to be a little world in himselfe Superioritie was giuen to him as hauing the dominion and propertie of the rest of the creatures whom God brought to man to receiue their names for they had notvnderstanding to name one an other but the reason of man did distinguish betweene them and gaue them proper and seuerall additions which his memory endued with reason did continually retaine he gouerned them were they neuer so strong and employed them to what seruice it pleased him And to this day man hunts the wild beasts lawfully challengeth the propertie of them So much as the diuine and euerlasting things are more excellent then corruptible is the qualitie of right reason of the immortall soule aboue the rest of the creatures subiect to corruption An ancient Philosopher Iamblicius concerning Misteries ch 8.7 out of the very instinct of nature in the deep cōsideration of reason said that the first vse of reason is employed in conceiuing the Godhead not properly by knowing it but as it were by feeling By which feeling he meaneth not a palpable bodily or materiall feeling but a spirituall feeling according to the nature both of God and the Soule and the qualitie of reason which reacheth much further into causes then the bodily eye can discerne At the time of the creation of man God who in himselfe is all goodnesse and excellencie breathed into man a spirit which must be perfect pure and good because nothing proceedes from God but that which is good perfect and pure this spirit was his immortall soule which had no partaking of any earthly substance but absolutely of it selfe immateriall This Soule was endued with perfect pure and true reason knowledge and vnderstanding will and mind being qualities specially appropriate to the soule as it was immortall So that by the nature of the soule and not of the bodie man was first possessed of this Reason Man then consisteth of Body and Soule and in respect thereof is desscribed by the auntient Philosophers and Writers to containe in him their liues the liuing as plants the sensitiue as beasts and the last the reasonable life Aristotle putting the difference between man and beast saith The difference betvvixt man and beast Man and beast agree in this that both of them haue one sensitiue power and one selfe same imagination of things perceiued by the senses and that they differ onely in this that man hath yet further a reason and minde aboue the beast which the beast hath not In man is as it were an abridgement of God and the worlde of God in respect of spirite and of the worlde in composition of the body As if God in his diuine purpose out of his aboundant wisedome woulde set foorth a Mirrour of his woorkes by reducing into a little compasse both the infinitnesse of his owne nature and the hugenesse of the whole world together A great learned man endeuoring to expresse the same Dupleisis c. 14
the trunes of christian Religion saith We see in mans body a wonderfull mixture of the foure Elements the veines spreading foorth like riuers to the vttermost members as many instruments of sense as there be sensible natures in the worlde a great number of sinnewes flesh-strings and knitters a head by speciall priuiledge directed vp to heauen handes seruing to all maner of seruices whatsoeuer hee is that shall consider no more but onely this instrument without life without sence and without mouing cannot but thinke verily that it is made to very great purpose hee must needes crie out that man is a miracle which farre surmounteth not onely those lower Elements but also the very heauen and all the ornaments thereof But if he could out of himselfe beholde his owne body receiuing life and enter into the vse of al his motions hee woulde bee rauished with the consideration thereof But if hee enter into consideration of his immortall and reasonable soule it woulde drawe him from the earth to the heauenly creatures and aboue them to the presence of god from things subiect to mortallitie to the excellencie of all eternitie As there is a contrarietie of the Elementes among themselues directly one against the other yet these by equall mixture make a temperament so betwixt the soule and body the one beeing an immortall spirite the other corrupt and transitorie yet they put together make a perfect man Man by his reasonable soule and yet no man without the body So the reasonable man consisteth of bodie and soule for without the Spirite and soule it were but a lumpe of earth and without the materiall body it were onely an immortall spirite This is the miraculous woorke of God as it were to ioyne mortalitie and immortalitie together in marriage the immortall spirite as the head and husband and the mortall body as the spouse to obey These two in the first creation made perfect man and this perfect man which is properly vnderstoode by the inwarde man was indued with perfect right and true Reason Sect. IIII. The definition of Reason FEaring to exceede the boundes of Reason wherof I haue had care to consider because I finde the depth thereof to be without the comprehension of men I say for my selfe as Cyprianus Leonitius spake concerning his study of Astronomy though he could not attaine the fulnesse thereof yet Est aliquod prodire tenus si nō datur vltra there is a proceeding to some good purpose though all cannot be knowen And as Lactantius saide of the Labours of Hercules that they were Opera viri fortis viri tamen the works of a strong man yet of a man shewing there were imperfections in them so may it bee saide of the best Labours of menne that they come shorte of perfection In like I may say of this thing which I desire to explane by definition and am driuen to confesse as Beza saieth of these wordes 1. Cor. 11 10. Propter Angelos Quid hoc sit nondum mihi constat what this worde Reason meaneth I yet thorowly knowe not But submitting my vnderstanding vnto her worthinesse I make bolde to explane her in the most woorthy sorte I can attaine vnto The Latine woorde is Ratio It is Englished by diuerse Authours and called by diuerse Titles which allude towardes a definition It is sayde to be Reason Counsel Purpose Care Respect Consideration Regarde the Cause the Matter the State the Meanes the Way the Fashion the Forme the Proportion a Rule the Feate the Manner and sort a Mind a Counsell Aduise an Accompt or reckoning Businesse Valew Affaires And lastly the Quantitie wherein is to be obserued that out of the seuerall causes wherevnto the scope of the Authors tended theyr writings haue affoorded these seuerall names or titles describing in parte by them the nature and qualitie of Reason Others haue gone further saying Reason is the eie of the Soule whereby shee looketh into things past present and to come She is saide to be The Empresse of the Senses The Queene of Will An Apprehension of Heauenly and Diuine things The daughter of Vnderstanding Reason is by some termed A worde of diuine inspiration agreeing with that speach of Architus where hee saieth God breathed Reason into Man Reason is saide to be Aprudent guide of the Soule in her actions Shee is saide to be The Medicine of the Soule Hesiodus comming very neere the marke saith Reason is a diuine guide and wisedome inspired from aboue Ratio est quaedam tacita facultas insita mentibus hominum August apud Iurisc Reason is a certaine secret faculty ingrafted in the mindes of men Ratio est rerum humanarum diuinarum indagatrix According to the schoolemen quoad causas Reason is a searcher out of humane and diuine things in respect of the causes thereof Ratio est rerum omnium scrutinum moderamen quoad modos Reason is a finder out and gouernour of all thinges as concerning the manner thereof So haue these men with great indeuour expressed their mindes and vnderstandings which I reuerently accompt of But Reason being not defineable Vt illud quod consistit ex materia as material things are must needs be an immortall qualitie or facultie of the Soule if not essentiall which I haue reason to conceiue yet at the least vnseparable exercising many offices as instruments or intelligencers of Causes according to hir emploiment Out of which Considerations these sayings haue proceeded Domina Regina omnium est ratio quae connexa per se et progressa longiùs fit perfecta virtus haec vt imperet illi parti animi quae obedire debet Id videndum est viro quonam modo inquies velut seruo Dominus velut Imperator militi velut parens filio Reason is the Lady and Queene of all thinges which first vnited by it selfe and proceeding further is made a perfect virtue and how she ought to rule that parte of the minde which ought to obey euery man must consider But you wil aske in what maner she shoulde rule Surely euen as a maister ruleth his seruants an emperour his souldier and as a father his sonne Nihil est Cic. de legibus non dicam in homine sed in omni solo atque terra ratione diuinius quae cum adoleuit atque perfecta est nominatur ritè sapientia There is nothing I will not say in man but in all the world more diuine than Reason the which when it is growne ripe and come to perfection is truly called Wisedome Vt patrimonium homini ab homine Cic. de nat Deorum relinquitur sic ratio homini à Deo As a patrimony is bestowed from man to man so is Reason giuen as a portion from God to man 2. Tnsc Cùm praecipitur vt nobismet ipsis imperemus hoc praecipitur vt ratio coerciat temeritatem When this is commaunded that wee should rule our selues this is intended that Reason should bridle
either melting or taking it in sunder Plutarch in the life of Solon and Lycurgus If it be demaunded what caused Solon and Lycurgus to trauell into Egypt to learne rudiments and lawes to bring their people into a reasonable gouernment It will be answered that the inclination they had to draw rude and confused matters to some reasonable head and order moued them to take that paines The lawes of dominion and propertie of things both reall and personal of mixt and entire are drawne out of Reason and all their braunches ought to bee tied fast thereunto The law of seueritie and punishment are in the nature of keeping the guiltlesse from receiuing wrong and are as a protection for the well gouerned not drawne out of an vnreasonable desire of punishment without cause or tormenting the offender in respect of his person but to take off the offence In the orderly or fit doing of any thing the mind and Reason beginne their work at the latter end and at the effect as in building a house Reason hath laid the whole plot and the cause to what end it is built before any stone be laid In any iourny Reason either hath or should set downe the probabilitie of good to ensue therof What caused the men of auncient time to enter into consideration of eternitie and to search into the difference of things immortall and things transitorie subiect to corruption of the beginning ending of time and of the world and that time is not in respect of God and eternitie but of things that had beginnings and passe with time and whosoeuer shall looke into the workes of Homer Hesiodus Parminides Mercurius Sophocles Aeschylus Euripides and others shall finde that this Soules qualitie of Reason euen out of nature it selfe had searched farre into these deepe matters It is amongst the Philosophers agreed that there is in man a double speach the one in the mind before we vtter it and the other is called the speach of the voyce vttered with the mouth the one priuate the other serueth to publish that which the minde and vnderstanding haue conceiued and determined to manifest The learned translatours of the Greeke word Logos somtimes call it speach somtimes word and sometimes Reason and it alludeth to this Vox praefert animus ratiocinatur mentis verbum ipsa ratio est The voice vttereth the mind reasoneth and debateth so Reason is the very word or speach of the mind And as it is fitlie said that what proportion is between the voyce or speach of the mind the like is betweene the speach of the mind and the speach of vnderstanding the voyce hath neede of aire and is diuided into partes and requireth leasure the minde is indiuisible but yet hath neede to passe from one conclusion or Reason to another But vnderstanding accomplisheth his action or working in lesse then a moment with one only act filleth the Reason and minde that it is constrayned to make many acts of one so that there is such an indiuisible vniting and putting together of vnderstanding mind and reason in the Soule that they may not be parted nor be one without the other For which cause Reason is properly said to bee the daughter speach or word of our vnderstanding That nature and abilitie of working of the Soule which the Latines call Mens the French translators vnderstand to be the reasonable Soule And as there is described to bee in the reasonable Soule working vnderstanding and willing so are not these three liues nor three soules in vs but one life one soule And these are three powers which the reasonable and immortall soule cannot want The like is said of the memorie of vnderstanding or of mindefull vnderstanding to be an aboundance of reason and as it were a hoorder vp of the continuall influences of the minde which minde Auerhos and Alexander tearme the workefull minde which is a power or force that can skill to extend reason from one thing to an other which they also conclude to be vncorruptible euerlasting and diuine and by this Minde is vnderstoode the immortall reasonable soule of man And as a great learned man writing of the corruption of mans nature sheweth that the worlde and all the creatures were made for the vse of man and commending the vnderstanding and reason of man Hee first speaking of the other creatures sayth To what purpose are all their virtues and excellent properties if themselues know them not The Sunne saith he excelleth among the Coelestiall bodies and the Rose among the flowers The beast is a degree aboue the trees But what skilles it what thou arte or what thou hast if thou know it not nor vnderstand it For what auaileth the light to the blinde meate to him that cannot taste sweete odours to him that smelleth not Or what auaileth the excellencie of thy Creation or thy reasonable and immortall Soule if thou discerne not the woorthinesse thereof By the meanes of Reason onely man of all the things in this inferior world can skill of these things and how to enioy them and so of force it may rightly and truely be concluded that they were made for none but for him That is to speake more properly God hath giuen vnto man al and whatsoeuer al other creatures either haue or be and hath not dealt with him barely as with a creature but rather as with his owne childe for whome he hath expresly created this world and giuen it him to possesse and besides gaue him an vnderstanding mind and reason which I so much labour to aduance to enioy gouerne and order the same Yet to drawe Reason a little higher this excellent qualitie in the soule of man by some is vnderstoode to be a religious regard and vnderstanding of God and to walke in his seruice and a continuall obseruation of good things that tend to immortalitie For as death separateth the body and soule for a time so doth the soule carry with it so much of his substāce power quality as it first brought that is spirite life reason and will which it shall bring to the bodie againe at the time of their second vniting Agayne if Reason bee the Daughter Vnderstanding which is a chiefe power of the soule be the Mother then are these co-relatiues and the one can not be without the other The soule cannot be without vnderstanding and vnderstanding cannot be without reason therefore as the soule is an immortall substāce so is vnderstanding an immortal power and reason an immortall quality of the soule The word Logos which the translators of the Greeke many times call Reason or word is said by the diuines to be incarnate by the holy ghost to make the sonne of God the second person in the Trinity whome we acknowledge and beleeue to bee subsisting of a reasonable Soule and humane flesh To whome the Philosophers giue the names of the Be-er or hee that is Wit or Vnderstanding the beautiful and sometimes speach word
reason wisedome Son and the begotten which Reason they affirme to be engendered of the vnderstanding and to be as the light of the vnderstanding and dependeth thereupon This is the Image of God which we beare about vs our immortall reasonable Soule as if wee behold with the eyes of our vnderstanding how the Sonne of God vouchsafeth vs a brotherhoode we cannot be ignorant of Right Reason therefore out of all these collections hath a place aboue al the vegitatiue sensitiue creaturs and aboue all materiall things whatsoeuer yea the Sunne the Moone the Starres and firmament of heauen is that which Salomō desired at the hands of God when he prayed to haue that vnderstanding which sate next vnto the Throne of God So is Reason placed next vnto God himselfe the worthinesse wherof is seene in this that in the diuine consideration of Gods eternitie his prouidence and purpose of creation of things for his owne honour One man through his reasonable and immortal soule was more precious and of greater value than all the whole mould of the Earth and all the creatures thereupon creeping mouing and being Besides this it is most apparant that in the time of Innocency and perfection of man Reason was not attainted infected incombred nor auoided with inordinate lust desires affections nor passions which now are crept in and haue incorporated themselues in him no the very free will of man had not originally place aboue Reason but was at her commaund and subiect vnto reason An example whereof no man shall need go farre to seeke for if hee truly suruey the corners of his owne heart and contemplate what perfectiōs he desireth to haue which he wanteth hee shall finde what man had and are nowe impayred And considder well with thy selfe what thon arte without reason and thou shalt finde thy condition worse than the state of a bruite beast Thus haue I made bolde and that rightly and truely to drawe Reason and her immortall Soule from these base and earthly things and place her in her owne throne euen next vnto God aboue all corruptible things among the immortall ones and neerest vnto Eternitie it selfe whose pallace seate and gouernement we may behold onely with the eies of our vnderstanding for thereby wee are vnited vnto the God of heauen and selected from corruptible thinges and thereby our mortall bodies shall put on immortalitie As the Sunne in his sphere taketh his course betweene the firmament and the lower Elementes extending his beames to the remotest places of them both so doth reason in the immortal soule of man during this naturall life wait betweene heauen and earth and by no meanes can be enclosed in the earths body as by these twoo reasons may appeare If the soule leaue the body and departe into heauen she caries reason with hir and the body becommeth earth againe or if the body carry the soule and reason into the depth of th earth or offer to include her in the massie lump thereof presently the soule flieth from the body and reason absolutely departeth reason is a thing of more excellencie than that sencelesse parte of the worlde can containe or whereto shee ought to be made subiect This is truely her Monarchie if shee haue her owne and due birth-right a power a commaund and authority ouer al the actions passions imaginations and fantasies of menne and her feate ought to be aboue the thoughts and conceits of the wisest Who can measure her territories or possessions when the mind and reason of man extendeth both generally and particularly into all causes on the earth the aire the powers of heauen the firmament it selfe nay into heauen it selfe and to the very Sonne of God who in excellencie far surmounteth the Angels sitteth at his right hand possessed with the reasonable soule of man and in him sitteth right reason next vnto the throne of God If any haue knowledge by what means to augmēt the vnderstanding thereof let him put his helping hand for this Empresse is hardly besett in hir Monarchie almost pulled frō her throne and her Scepter troden vnder foote And so leauing to speake further of that excellent true and perfect quality I make her place knowne and leaue her to maintaine her title as she may being much distressed in her gouernment Sect. VII Of Reason corrupted IT needeth no more proof to maintaine the argument of innocencie and perfection in the reasonable soule of man but that God was the Creator thereof from whom could proceede nothing but good There needeth no further proofe to discouer that this perfection and innocencie is corrupted and impaired but euery particular mans examination of his owne actions thoughts and wordes that daily and hourely passe from him For if any man wil take any one day a note of all the words hee hath spoken and examine the next day how insufficient and vaine the most of them haue beene he shall neede no other Iudge but his owne conscience If he shall an other day record all his thoughts and after trie their consonancie with reason I leaue to him that shall make proofe thereof what he will censure in that behalfe And if any will peruse his acts deeds euen in some things that are now lawfull and honest he shal finde nature simply ashamed of them to be discouered bicause they were not originally in partes of nature but are sithence crept in by corruption Any that will duly looke into these causes shall plainely find himselfe depriued of all perfection and innocencie and his owne soule to be polluted with wickednes and all the powers and qualities thereof yea his vnderstanding reason and will to be peruerted and nature it selfe preuaricated In the first creation mans vnderstanding wit and reason extended only to the knowledge of good his will was then tied to obey reason And in that time was not his nature Soule nor reason polluted with fond lust wicked desires inordinate affections intemperate passions nor vaine and idle fancies But this perfection and innocencie remained not long before the cunning Sophister enticed by perswasions the will mind Soule and reason of man to vndertake a worke that wrought his confusion and corrupted all these good partes To dilate therof I forbeare because none can doubt of the trueth of that generall ouerthrow of mans estate life soule reason and will and concluding that with an affirmatiue that corruption came in by sinne I will proceed to the rest as the cause offereth Since and in the instant time of this ouerthrow there are growne into the very nature of man and of his Soule and Reason pride lust self-will ennie hatred anger sorrow deceipt falshoode partialitie and infinite other passions and affections which for breuity I omit to speake of haue thrust themselues into this Monarchie and wonderfully and vniuersally opposed themselues and rebelled against their Empresse and her estate and kingdome and grieuously and sorely rebelled against her iust gouernment setting vp new courses
as by the verdict of Twelue men euery cause of some nature must be tried So by the Direction of the Law causes of some other nature are to be descided and adiudged by the sentence of the twelue Iudges of the Land Is it not of worthie consideration a very resonable course that reason hath set downe that the trial of Land shal be by men of the same neighborhood that they knowing the right may execute the worke of the Law Lex suum cuique tribuit the Law giueth to euery man his owne Then the common opinion of them that say the fault is in the law is erronious by condemning the Law for the peruerters of the Law and Iustice of whom there are too great a number Looke further into the true sinceritie of the Law and you shal finde that Reason hath made Lawes to reforme those errors and to punish the offenders according to the qualitie of their transgressions What can she do poore dumbe thing she is not able to speake in her own behalfe and few wil do her right either in woorde or action Comes shee not neere the Court when she punisheth treason to preserue the Kinges person Embrace her and vse her worthily for she is of great honor and the principall worke that euer Reason brought to effect in causes of this world The Souldier and man at Armes will confesse that without the Lawes of warres and martiall Discipline there is no possibillitie of keeping things in order The diuines and professors of holy Writ in all countries and in all ages haue made alowance hereof muth endeuoured the performaunce of some things in that behalfe All the Emperors Monarks and Kings of the world depend hereupon and hereby their gouernments are preserued and kept from confusion the least fraction whereof worketh great anoy as appeareth by the stories written by Cornelius Tacitus of the liues of Nero Galba Vetellius and others in the Romane Empire This consideration offereth it selfe though something abruptly that if the offences errors and transgressions of men in these points did consist of substantial matter as the bodies of the offenders do and were for their vnworthines appointed to bee consumed with fire All the water in the great Ocean would not extinguish the flame This being true it shall agree well with Reason and bee very conuenient that men looke into themselues before it be too late correct their errors whilest they haue time lest in the end for the faults of their materiall bodies and sensuall and loose dispositions their Soules which consist of immateriall and vncorruptible substance bee sett on fire and burne in hel with vnquenchable fire that no water of what abundance soeuer can put out And so hauing drawne to thy remembrance these short notes I send thee to consider for the worthines of the law that Moses from whom the grounds of all lawes are receiued did in his time publish the law to the people himselfe vntill the people grew to great numbers and infinite disorders and then by the perswasion of Iethro his Father in lawe hee appointed ministers and officers vnder him The law put in execution by those officers was not the law of the officers but the law of Moses And the law vttered by Moses was not Moses own law but the law of God Such is our case the multitude of offences and euills committed amongst vs are too great and ouer many for our Queene to order in her person therefore Reason hath set downe meane authoritie vnder her The lawes they put in execution are not the lawes of the Iudges but the lawes of our Queene and countrie The sentence they pronounce is her Maiesties they only giue it a voyce and the maine point is this both the lawes and determination thereupon if they be truly executed and obeyed are the lawes and sentence of God himselfe Was there not in Moses time a chiefe head aboue men was there not a mongst mē one aboue the rest were there not vnder him others that took paines to sit in Iudgement to heare the peoples causes was there not thē a chiefe Magistrate and inferior Magistrates some in authoritie to order and gouerne others vnder them to obey were there not men that sustained wrong and others that did the iniurie was not Miriam that gallant Lady punished with leprosie for murmuring against the authoritie of Moses And is not this the antientest gouernment in the world And was not this a kind of Monarchie Doth not our state and gouernement resemble this we haue the same GOD they had a sole gouernor as they lawes as they had Liuetenants Deputies Officers and Magistrates as they people to be kept in obedience as they murmurers against the head as they If they had Corah and his company that rebelled this land hath not bin free from such but God haue the honor they haue had their punishment as well as Miriam and Abiram If the Magistrates in that gouernment found store of busines to punish offences and right the oppressed our countrie is not altogether vnlike them therein If Moses had Aron for Church matters our head hath vnder her mē authorized for that purpose Behold all these things which cōtaine within them a thousand other branches and consider whether Reason hath not preuailed far in this our country and God bin very fauorable to the successe thereof what impiety inhumanitie and bestialitie were it to peruert the good that hath bin attained vnto in these pointes And what doe the contemners resisters disobeyers peruerters and abusers of this so sacred and holy an ordinance of God deserue lesse then those that were punished in Moses time Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri quibus acquiruntur ijsdem praeseruantur modis by diligence labor studie endeuour and obedience haue these bin brought to order and by the like must bee preserued In which office euery member hath a share the chiefe head in gouerning and the rest in obeying which is a dutie to be performed by euery subiect And wherevnto right and true Reason will leade euery man if he carefully obserue his duetie The omitting wherof was a fault in the time of Saint Paul and Saint Peter The one writing to Titus willed him to put men in remembraunce that they be subiect to principalities and powers The other requireth that men should submitt themselues vnto all maner of ordinances of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the king as to the superior or vnto gouernors as vnto them that are sent of him for the punishment of euill dooers and for the praise of them that do well Besides Saint Paul saith in an other place be subiect to the higher powers for who so resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 2. resisteth the ordinance of God With which sayings I conclude desiring that euery man will put himself in remembrance of his dutie in those points and according to his calling beare a faithfull and true heart to his Queene and Country and obedience to authoritie as the key that openeth to all happines and is the closing vp of Reasons gouernement in these worldly causes and a great inducement to eternitie Finis The Minds priuiledge Who can restraine the freedom of the mind Or banish thoughts from grieued harts perplex Or who can shew what limits are assignde To Sorrowes griefes which do poore soules sore vex Mind keepe thee free from euer being bound Fast from ' Despaire and feast on good Content Yet surfet not on too secure a ground Lest Time let passe Remissenesse make repent Seeme not to be but be as thou dost seeme Thy conscience saue what euer thee befall It forc'th not much what other men do deeme Thy guilt or guiltlesse conscience swayeth all In things that taste of good is good delight Thou mansion for thy God to take repose Keepe pretious things wherein he may delight Then secrets all he will to thee disclose In all restraints yet thou art still at large In all exiles thou still remainst at home The secret matters thou dost take in churge Seruant like thee diuine Virtue knows none The pollisht Temple of Dianaes shrine Did not delight the viewers halfe so much As counsels good layd vp in storch-house thine Which will abide the hammer deft and tuch Keepe farre from thee the praue and euil things The sanctimonies for thy turne are fit Thou harbour hast among the Peers and Kings Thy Chaire was made thy maker there to sit Thou cloth of gold of state and richest price To clad thy God the high and mightest one In thee therefore beware let raigne no vice An equall mate thy King abideth none Let none come in keepe fast the vtter gate Deceipt is rife and thou art in great danger Take heede beware there is a subtile mate That presseth in yet ought to be a stranger Shee le offer faire both words and deeds of gaine She saies she will be gone and will but view But keepe her out it will be to thy paine The words she speakes is neither of them true The Bridebed once defilde the Bridegroom leaues It is a place he doth detest and hate See to thy selfe when once she thee deceaues Thy Glorie 's gone thy Honor 's out of date Friend to thy selfe be thou for to be frended Needs curious choise I speake as reason bindeth Faire shews of loue with faint effects are ended When fruitles words shew what the speaker mindeth The matter meant the mind must needs containe That secret is to him that dooh intend Al pleasing words and speeches that are vaine Gainst truths supports by no means may contend That ample walke within so large a field Would well permit my pen a ranging scope But yet my will to Reason now must yeelde To end this cause my Muse doth stand in hope In fewest words but words of great respect The minding well and well affecting spirit Eternizd Ioyes with Angels shall amplect And endlesse blisse by promise shall inherit That blissed place and place of highest blisse Without cōpare Compare what needs that word God hath ordained for seruants that are his Blessed are they that euer serue the Lord. Finis